Breakdown of Ungefähr achtzig Millionen Menschen leben in Deutschland.
in
in
Deutschland
Germany
leben
to live (be alive, exist)
achtzig
eighty
die Million
the million
der Mensch
the human, person
ungefähr
approximately
Questions & Answers about Ungefähr achtzig Millionen Menschen leben in Deutschland.
Why is it Millionen and not just Million like in the English 'eighty million'?
In German, large numbers like Million (million) and Milliarde (billion) are actually capitalized nouns. Because they are nouns, they take a plural ending when there is more than one. So it is eine Million (one million) but achtzig Millionen (eighty millions). Note that hundert (hundred) and tausend (thousand) do not change this way.
Why use Menschen for 'people' here instead of Leute?
Menschen literally means 'humans' or 'human beings' and is the correct word when talking about the population of a country or large demographic groups. Leute is more casual and is used for smaller, everyday groups of people, like the people at a restaurant or a party.
Does the whole phrase Ungefähr achtzig Millionen Menschen count as position 1?
Yes! A core rule of German is that the conjugated verb (here, leben) must be in the second position of a normal sentence. The entire phrase Ungefähr achtzig Millionen Menschen acts as a single subject block taking up position 1, pushing the verb right into position 2.
Could I use etwa instead of ungefähr in this sentence?
Absolutely. Both ungefähr and etwa mean 'approximately' or 'roughly.' They are completely interchangeable when estimating numbers like a country's population.
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